The Blackboard Jungle

Evan Hunter's novels have sold over one hundred million copies. His writing includes screenplays, literary novels, and children's books, but he is perhaps best known for his hugely successful 87th Precinct series, penned under the pseudonym Ed McBain. The book that launched Hunter into a full-time writing career and onto the bestseller lists was his first major novel, The Blackboard Jungle. Written in 1954, this controversial story cracked down on the public school system and dramatized student violence as no other novel of its time did. Hunter used his own teaching experience to create protagonist Richard Dadier, who lands his first real job as an English teacher at North Manual Trades High School in New York City. Dadier knows the students here will be tough, but nothing has prepared him for the world he enters. Hunter's popular and groundbreaking novel attracted much attention when it was first published, and it became a top bestseller in 1955. Set against the changing social culture of the 1950s, The Blackboard Jungle is a fascinating time capsule that brilliantly illuminates an issue still in the forefront of our minds.